It has been triple-whammy bad news for Republican Presidential candidate Sen. John McCain this week: for a candidate who said he can reach across the aisles, he’s having serious trouble holding on to some famous names in his own party.
Two more famous names in the past 24 hours alone have come out against McCain, and for his rival Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama.
First, Obama got the endorsement of this former Bush administration Secretary of State Colin Powell. Next, Obama got another endorsement from a high-profile former Bush administration member — the many in charge of spin for the administration for several years, ex-Press Secretary Scott McClellan.
And now former GOP Presidential candidate and former Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater’s granddaughter writes in The Huffington Post that she and some other Goldwater family members will be voting for Obama and most decidedly against the McCain-Palin ticket.
SEE UPDATE BELOW: Barry Goldwater, Jr. is not happy with his niece’s HP piece and says he’ll vote for McCain.
In the case of McClellan, he did write a book highly-critical of the Bush administration. But an actual endorsement announcement? Not quite expected — and it is big political news:
Scott McClellan, the former White House press secretary who sharply criticized President Bush in his memoir last spring, told CNN Thursday he’s voting for Barack Obama.
“From the very beginning I have said I am going to support the candidate that has the best chance for changing the way Washington works and getting things done and I will be voting for Barack Obama and clapping,” McClellan told new CNN Host D.L. Hughley
McClellan, a onetime Bush loyalist whose scathing critique of the president sent shock waves across Washington last spring, has long hinted he was leaning toward the Illinois senator.
“It’s a message that is very similar to the one that Gov. Bush ran on in 2000,” McClellan said in May about Obama’s campaign.
Imagery matters in politics, and these endorsements don’t help imagery surrounding Republican Presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, or the embattled President George Bush. And by Powell and McClellan endorsing Obama, they are strengthening the perception that like or not — accurately or not — in the eyes of some Bush and McCain are joined at the political hip.
According to the L.A. Times, McClellan could barely contain his glee at his announcement:
Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, the consummate Bush loyalist no more, has a knack for dropping bombshells.
He did it with his tell-all book about life and lies in President Bush’s inner circle.
And now comes his grinning declaration, taped for a new weekend CNN show, “D.L. Hughley Breaks the News,” that he has a favorite in the presidential election, and it is not John McCain.
His face lighting up as bright as his French blue shirt, it is clear what he’s going to say before he opens his mouth.
“I will be voting for Barack Obama,” he declares.
Meanwhile, CC Goldwater writes, in part:
Being Barry Goldwater’s granddaughter and living in Arizona, one would assume that I would be voting for our state’s senator, John McCain. I am still struck by certain ‘dyed in the wool’ Republicans who are on the fence this election, as it seems like a no-brainer to me.
Myself, along with my siblings and a few cousins, will not be supporting the Republican presidential candidates this year. We believe strongly in what our grandfather stood for: honesty, integrity, and personal freedom, free from political maneuvering and fear tactics.
She goes into detail, then writes:
[…The] Republican brand has been tarnished in a shameless effort to gain votes and appeal to the lowest emotion, fear. Nothing about McCain, except for maybe a uniform, compares to the same ideology of what Goldwater stood for as a politician. The McCain/Palin plan is to appear diverse and inclusive, using women and minorities to push an agenda that makes us all financially vulnerable, fearful, and less safe.
When you see the candidate’s in political ads, you can’t help but be reminded of the 1964 presidential campaign of Johnson/Goldwater, the ‘origin of spin’, that twists the truth and obscures what really matters. Nothing about the Republican ticket offers the hope America needs to regain it’s standing in the world, that’s why we’re going to support Barack Obama. I think that Obama has shown his ability and integrity.
After the last eight years, there’s a lot of clean up do. Roll up your sleeves, Senators Obama and Biden, and we Goldwaters will roll ours up with you.
UPDATE: Barry Goldwater, Jr. responds in the HP and he is not happy:
The Goldwater name carries with it the standard of modern conservatism and has shaped the Republican Party for decades, waving proudly and with the dedication my father brought to everything in his life. However, that standard recently has been hijacked and used without any grounding in reality.
Being Barry Goldwater’s son and living in Arizona, one would assume that I would be voting for our state’s senator, John McCain. Well, I am. The decision truly is a no-brainer.
….CC does not help the Republican Party nor the cause by minimizing John McCain. McCain may not be everything she wants in a President or hold her exact values, but she should work within the party to promote the ideals Barry Goldwater stood for. Endorsing one of the most liberal Senators in Congress is certainly not the way to help fix any problem she sees; instead it is a betrayal of everything my father advocated government should be. My father would never endorse a candidate or a party that wanted to grow government, raise taxes or in any way step on our freedoms.
Together the Goldwaters, including CC, should work together to redefine the Republican Party and make it the model Barry Goldwater Sr. stood for.
So the week that began when one former top Bush administration figure, former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, endorsed Obama ends with some other prominent names associated with the Republican party jumping ship.
Do the Powell, McClellan and Goldwater endorsements really matter, given the fact that it has long been known that Powell was not a happy Bush camper and had been leaning towards Obama, and McClellan was under fire from Bush administration officials due to his book? Yes, and here’s why:
1. It adds to the drip-drip-drip imagery that the McCain candidacy is evolving into an increasingly-narrow candidacy consisting of the Bush-loyalist faction of the GOP, evangelicals and talk radio fans, so that if he wins he would be one more President of the base, by the base and for the base, despite him being a symbol of a kind of political fusion candidate in 2000.
2. Although many Democrats are already giddy about Obama’s seemingly near-certain victory at the polls, the operative word here is “seemingly.” In fact, as The Christian Science Monitor’s lively blog points out, polls show either a dead heat or an Obama landslide. That’s quite a difference — which means imagery could play a role in flipping some undecideds or even some Republicans who soured on Bush and don’t like McCain’s campaign. Some are wondering whether the polls are wrong.
3. Obama is the one harvesting prominent Republicans. With the exception of former Democrat, independent Sen. Joe Lieberman, McCain has not been the beneficiary of famous Democrats announcing that they’re going to vote for him.
4. The loss of the endorsement from Goldwater’s granddaughter is highly-symbolic since there has been a steady break between the second President George Bush and his followers and more-traditional conservative Republicans who are ideological descendants of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. Whether she even agrees with her grandfather’s stances or not, it is, once again, high-powered imagery that will not help McCain.
5. Taken together, one common thread is that those coming out against McCain are doing it partly because they reject what I’ve called the “talk radio political culture” in the United States, best-typified by the campaign tactics of Lee Atwater and honed to perfection by Karl Rove and his able proteges. The attack/demonization style of politics has gotten McCain some bad press. It’s a style that permeates talk radio and now the Internet, where weblogs have become cyberspace talk radio sites where some writers even go after other weblogs writers and other sites to demonize and discredit those with whom they disagree. Powell and Goldwater make it clear they are sick of this style of politics and want a discussion of issues. It has long been known that independent voters don’t like this kind of politics. Is the backlash now spreading beyond independents?
UPDATE 6 on Barry Goldwater, Jr. piece: The Goldwater split seemingly illustrates the GOP’s problem: it seems families are split now over whether to support McCain.
HERE’S A CROSS SECTION OF WEBLOG OPINION ON THIS STORY:
—Texas Monthly:
That “and clapping” has got to hurt. Colin Powell, you will recall, said he would be voting for Barack Obama and “nodding grimly.”
Not a surprise, actually. He tossed some chum to the left about it earlier this year as part of his Take Me Seriously book tour, remember?
Powell, Ken Adelman, now this tool. McCain should run an ad saying, “If I’m George Bush, why are his cronies all voting for Barack Obama?”
Between Powell and McClellan, this is a pretty hearty rebuke of the Bush era.
The big one today though was the defection of much of the family of conservative icon Barry Goldwater represented by Goldwater’s granddaughter and biographer CC Goldwater. Perhaps it’s not really a surprise, CC and the rest of the Goldwater family have been very critical of George W. Bush but it could have an impact in Arizona and other western states.
–The always original The Heretik is back with this must see GRAPHIC.
All of these big-name Republican endorsements have got to hurt. They add to a sense of inevitability, and of despair. It makes it harder to get volunteers for McCain’s campaign, and even harder to drum up any last-minute donors – after 40% of your life savings gets wiped out on the stock market, do you really want to invest in another sure loser? This is all very bad. And thus very good.
It’s not “rats jumping ship” kind of phenomenon. We’re talking about a whole stampede of people running away from Bush, the GOP and that ultimate Republican insider, John McCain.
I don’t believe Barry Goldwater would ever vote for McCain and would, like his granddaughter, vote for Barack Obama. I also believe that he would be ashamed of the Republican Party of 2008.
—TMP:
John McCain has long claimed conservative and one-time presidential candidate (he lost to LBJ in 1964) Barry Goldwater as one of his idols. Turns out that Goldwater’s Arizona-dwelling grandchildren don’t care much for McCain/Palin, or the current state of the GOP
The election is far from over, but if you watch what is happening in the Republican Party right now, it sure seems like the most extreme fringe of the anti-choice right wing must either put up or shut up on election day. It’s not the Democrats who are saying that, it’s Republicans who are saying it. Loudly. Clearly. With conviction.
…What is most fascinating is that the threats to America these Republicans see comes from within their own party, from an anti-choice far-right extremism that has gone too far trying to infringe on the personal freedoms of their fellow Americans.
If the far-right anti-choicers can win this election for McCain-Palin, these Republicans endorsing Obama may need to find a new home. If the far-right loses this election for McCain, the Republican Party will be fascinating to watch as devolves into blame, finger pointing, and hopefully public hearings to determine who is a “real Republican” and who is very “pro-Republican.”
Colin Powell opened the flood gates. Now comes the flood.
As the McCain-Palin farce quickly sinks into obscurity — now behind 13 points in the latest CBS News poll– more high-profile Republicans are jumping ship.
Before his death on 1989, Goldwater came out in favor of ditching the ban on gays in the US military, so obviously his mind was at least open when considering equality issues. That can’t be said for many of the Republican ilk…Take nothing for granted; this is far from over. But good on the Goldwaters. Their Paka was a conservative in the genuine sense, and represented the type of Republican one could respect even when there were points of disagreement. McCain and Palin are not Goldwater conservatives in any sense.
UPDATE: The New York Times reports that polls now show Obama gaining among Bush voters. WARNING: There now seems to be a “pack journalism” conventional wisdom thread now to many of these stories. No one has won until this election is over:
Senator Barack Obama is showing surprising strength among portions of the political coalition that returned George W. Bush to the White House four years ago, a cross section of support that, if it continues through Election Day, would exceed that of Bill Clinton in 1992, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News polls.
Underscoring his increasing strength in the final phase of the campaign, Mr. Obama led Mr. McCain among groups that voted for President Bush four years ago: those with incomes greater than $50,000 a year; married women; suburbanites and white Catholics. He is also competitive among white men, a group that has not voted for a Democrat over a Republican since 1972, when pollsters began surveying people after they voted.
Of potential concern for Mr. Obama’s strategists, however, a third of voters surveyed say they know someone who does not support Mr. Obama because he is black.
Voters were also closely divided about Mr. Obama’s ability to handle a crisis, a finding that came as Republicans seized on remarks by his running mate, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, that foreign leaders were likely to test him in the first months of his term if he is elected.
Over all, however, the poll found that Mr. Obama would defeat Mr. McCain if the election were held now, with 52 percent of those identified as probable voters saying they would vote for Mr. Obama and 39 percent saying they would vote for Mr. McCain.
Read it in its entirety…
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.